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What I'd like is an easy, cheap DVR solution for OTA. Mostly I'd just like to be able to pause and rewind live TV. After cutting the cord, it's like living in the 80s again shouting at family members to be quiet when you need to hear something.
Add a HDHomerun tuner box (NOT the HDHomerun Prime, which is a CableCard tuner), and it works quite nicely.
Easiest setup is with Mythbuntu http://www.mythbuntu.org/
What I'd like is an easy, cheap DVR solution for OTA. Mostly I'd just like to be able to pause and rewind live TV. After cutting the cord, it's like living in the 80s again shouting at family members to be quiet when you need to hear something.
http://www.channelmaster.com/Antenna_DVR_s/336.htm
You should follow /r/cordcutters, they track this stuff obsessively.
Get internet service from cable provider with basic cable plus HBO for less than the advertised price of the internet service alone. Have to call back every year to get the promotional price back, which sucks. But we almost never watch the cable channels. Local channels in HD with a couple low-end antennas in the attic. And tend to watch HBO GO on a Roku, where we also have Netflix, Prime, etc. Doing Sling during foo…
Get internet service from cable provider with basic cable plus HBO for less than the advertised price of the internet service alone. Have to call back every year to get the promotional price back, which sucks. But we almost never watch the cable channels. Local channels in HD with a couple low-end antennas in the attic. And tend to watch HBO GO on a Roku, where we also have Netflix, Prime, etc. Doing Sling during foo…
Cordcutter here as well. My experience with HD antennae hasn't been great, although it seems to be more due to my basement location than anything else. I still get enough channels to keep it, but they periodically cut in and out, which is a bit annoying. I've spent a good bit of time experimenting with Kodi add-ons and Chromecast-compatible apps. Those have worked pretty well for supplementing my substantial amount o…
You don't even need a TV to take advantage of this if you have a computer. You can buy a tv tuner card that will connect to your laptop and allow you to plug in an antenna to watch TV. Something like this: http://www.amazon.com/Hauppauge-1191-WinTV-HVR-955Q-Tuner-No...
I do this with Windows 7's included Media Center as a PVR. I was surprised when checking out popular "media center" software that most of it seems to concentrate on playback of videos and not support being a PVR.
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When I got my TiVo a few years ago, you could buy a lifetime subscription. I think it was about $300, which seemed pretty reasonable. I've had the unit for almost 4 years so I've definitely broken even on it. They still seem to offer a lifetime plan, but now it costs $600. That's a bit harder to justify.
What recurring service are you notionally paying for every month??
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TiVo Roamio OTA edition. $50 box and $9.99 a month subscription. All the great tivo features, access to apps (netflix, youtube, etc) and a great FAST user interface.
Subscription is a deal breaker. I just want to be able to pause and rewind free TV signals. I'm willing to pay once for a device to do that but not a subscription.
Expanded basic service: $60
High definition converter box: $10
Digital converter rental: $3
HBO Cinemax package: $18
Premiere Total Pack: $16
Showtime/TMC: $5
Starz: $5
Franchise fee: $7
Broadcast TV surcharge: $4
Sports programming surcharge: $2
Total monthly cost: $130
Annual cost: $130 × 12 months = $1,560
That doesn’t include Internet access, which adds another $60 or $70 per month, plus the land line. So they’re paying close to $250/month. Sadly, that’s typical for a lot of people around here, who often get suckered in by $99 “triple play” deals and don’t read the fine print about extra fees, premium packages, or escalating rates after years 1 and 2.
It’s a total racket.
One thing to add about TFA: DTV reception even over a good antenna within 10 miles of the broadcast towers can be spotty. We live near Boston, and every time a car drives by our house the image freezes even for the big VHF channels.
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Is it true that you have to remember to proactively put it into a special mode to pause live TV? I might tolerate that shortcoming at that price, though.
No, where did you see that? It isn't constantly buffering live TV though. What I do is pause and go fix a drink for a few minutes and that gives me ample ability to fastforward commercials. I'm actually not completely sure about how rewinding works on live TV, since I almost exclusively let it record my normal shows for later. Edit: from one of the Amazon reviews: "It does let you pause live TV (temporarily recording…
I haven't tried the pausing TV (or recording TV) yet. I think this coment will inspire me to try out the recording and pausing.